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Non-Review Review: Watchmen (The Ultimate Cut)

It arrived two weeks ago, but I only found the time to sit down and watch it over two nights last week. So, what do I make of Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut?

Cue immature jokes about how they earned the name...

Note: My review of the theatrical edition can be read here. Continue reading

Non-Review Review: Watchmen (Theatrical Cut)

Probably the best we could have hoped for. Which is a guarded compliment at best. The movie has several gaping flaws, both as an adaptation of Alan Moore’s seminal work and also as a film in its own right. And yet it contains more interesting ideas than most prestige dramas, and at least two standout performances. The film is widely inconsistent, sometimes feeling too long in its gratuitous acton or sex scenes, but too short on the actual big ideas that make it thought-provoking. Ultimately, what ties the film down is also what props it up, in a manner: the fact that it is based on one of the most important books of the last quarter century.

Just the three of us...

Just the three of us...

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To Read or Not To Read?

Every year hundreds of books are adapted into movies. The adaptation process is (if Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman are to be believed) hell for the writer – but it’s also somewhat of a complex question for the film reviewer. Unlike the few films these days that have started their life as a script and have never before been offered to the public, the ideas, themes, characters and contents of the work now being produced as a blockbuster have all been let loose years ago. If reviewers should aspire to be educated in what they review, should they read the books before they see the films in order to properly judge them, or should the film itself stand on its own two feet to be judged as a success or failure on its own merits? On a more superficial level, is a reviewer better able to access what the audience expects from the film if they’ve read the book or should they act on the presumption that few moviegoers read the original work? Should they even care – is an attitude towards literary adaptations necessary for consistency in a film reviewer?

Book him, Leo...

Book him, Leo...

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Absolute Batman: The Dark Knight (Returns) (Review/Retrospective)

The Absolute Edition also collects The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Miller’s belated sequel is worthy of discussion on its own terms, and I plan to revisit it at some point. For the moment, however, here is the review of the original Dark Knight Returns.

It’s really quite difficult to discuss The Dark Knight Returns today. Part of the reason is because of the massive influence that Frank Miller’s Batman epilogue had on the medium, and part of it is because Miller himself has done a fairly efficient job at deconstructing his own definitive Batman work in stories like The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. It’s impossible to approach Miller’s work here entirely divorced from either reality, and the result is a rather strange and dramatic legacy for one of the most iconic Batman stories ever told. It remains fairly essential reading for anybody even remotely interested in the Caped Crusader, the superhero genre or even the medium as a whole. It’s a classic, albeit one that is sometimes quite difficult to pin down.

Lightning strikes…

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Does Hype Ruin Good Films?

So, how was Avatar Day for you?

The word so far has been a resounding ‘meh‘, but still a somewhat enthusiastic one. Still, it’s nothing compared to the hype that has built up around the movie. A ‘game changer’, Avatar was rumoured to redefine movies themselves – ushering in the golden era of three-dimensional filmmaking. How does a film live up to that hype? In fairness, most of the comments on the preview footage have been relatively positive, but most seem a little disappointed. So, has the Hollywood hype machine spoiled a perfectly good movie?

Is James Cameron still king of the world?

Is James Cameron still king of the world?

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Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?

Released in a Deluxe Edition hardback format to compliment Neil Gaiman’s farewell to the Caped Crusader, this collection of Alan Moore Superman stories is a pretty cool purchase, and one significantly better than the Batman equivalent it is published alongside. A fond goodbye to the Silver Age of Superman (and comics as a whole), it reads fantastically well in retrospect as a goodbye in many ways to the innocence of the earlier superhero four-colour tales. The fact that it’s accompanied by arguably an even better Superman story is just icing on the cake.

"I can't stand to fly..."

"I can't stand to fly..."

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Watch Out for Watchmen: The Ultimate Edition!

We knew it was coming. A solid reason to hold out for Christmas – Warner Brothers has announced the motherlode of Watchmen DVD’s. The Ultimate Edition we’ve known to be coming for a while has been confirmed and – despite Zach Snyder’s protest that it would be a bare-bones set – it looks to be massive. Five disks, all inclusive. To quote the great Keanu Reeves: Woah…

Those paying for The Director's Cut must seem quite blue right now...

Those paying for The Director's Cut must seem quite blue right now...

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The Future of Home Entertainment?

Blu Ray isn’t working quite the magic for home entertainment media that it should. The DVD market share is still falling and Blu Ray can’t seem to rise fast enough to catch it. There’s a lot of talk about whether hard copy media – actually owning a piece of hardware containing the movie – is outdated and the future of media consumption lies in direct downloads, but I don’t ever think that people will stop buying disks or videos or whatever the hard-copy medium of the day is.

The Watchmen Blu Ray allows director Zack Snyder to offer a blow-by-blow account of the movie.

The Watchmen Blu Ray allows director Zack Snyder to offer a blow-by-blow account of the movie.

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Why Didn’t People Watch the Watchmen?

So, the details on the Watchmen DVD and Blu Ray are officially out. Warner Brothers is going to make us double-dip for an Ultimate Edition near Christmas, but Snyder is assuring us that it will likely be just a vanilla release – so we best get buying now! (As if Warner Brothers won’t be releasing a hideously overpriced box set.) Anyway, the real news for me was that Watchmen: The Director’s Cut is getting a limited theatrical run in the United States and the United Kingdom. I’ve emailed Cineworld to see if there will be a screening in Dublin, but I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, as Watchmen returns to the cinema, I thought I’d take the time to ponder what went ‘wrong’ during the film’s initial release?

The many many copies of Watchmen coming to you on Blu Ray and DVD...

The many many copies of Watchmen coming to you on Blu Ray and DVD...

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The Love of Richard Nixon…

I’m not American, but I feel a strange fascination with Richard Milhouse Nixon. He’s a figure of almost Shakespearean complexity, driven to phenomenal heights and fantastic accomplishments, but never able to do enough to placate the insecurity gnawing at him. I had the pleasure of reading Conrad Black’s rather even-handed summary of his life and career last summer, and he seems as much a mystery as ever. The recent news item about another of his paranoid ramblings has grabbed media attention, but I’m amazed that there doesn’t seem to be much debate over the true impact of Nixon’s Presidency beyond the obvious shadow cast by Watergate. What is the American fascination with painting Nixon as a villain or a fiend? Why can he not embody something just a tad more complex?

Richard Nixon unsuccessfully attempts to distract from the Watergate scandal by declaring "It's behind you!" during a Press Conference...

Richard Nixon unsuccessfully attempts to distract from the Watergate scandal by declaring "It's behind you!" during a Press Conference...

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